There is a growing interest in the convergence of circuit-switched networks, such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN), the Internet and other inter- and intranets. The convergence of these networks requires technology that facilitates interworking in a uniform and effective manner. The next generation of unified networks will provide an open and scalable architecture to accommodate multiple vendors and protocols under a single communication scheme. At the moment, there are several obstacles to providing a scalable, unified network incorporating circuit-switched networks, Internet, cable systems, and wireless systems, among other existing and future networks.
For example, the traditional PSTN provides constant-bandwidth, media streams of information between users. These media streams typically originate and terminate over dedicated access circuits. Circuit-switched networks were originally designed for carrying voice traffic and handling calling patterns, but with the emergence of the Internet, are now handling significant amounts of data traffic. The data traffic occupies a significant amount of the bandwidth of the circuit-switched network as the data makes its way to Internet protocol (IP)-based networks. In addition, the IP-based networks are now carrying significant amounts of data that relate to voice, fax and video, in addition to conventional data. Further, advances in cable and wireless technologies are requiring cable networks and wireless networks to efficiently interact with the PSTN and the IP-based Internet.
Since packet switching networks appear to be the common thread between all of the many networks, there is a need to seamlessly interwork all networks and individual endpoints connecting to these networks. The interface between networks, as well as between a network and individual endpoints, is provided by media gateways. Media gateways require interaction with gateway controllers and call servers to provide decision-making and coordination with other media gateways.
The primary responsibility of the media gateway is to allow media of various types, including voice, fax, video, and data, to be transported in a unified network. Typically, the media must be transportable both as packets in a packet-based network and as digital or analog streams in a circuit-switched network. In such applications, the media gateway provides bi-directional communications between a circuit-switched network and media-related elements associated with packet network, such as an IP or ATM network. Media gateways generally interact with end users in telephony applications or with other media gateways to facilitate such applications. The gateway controllers cooperate with call servers to provide media gateways with instructions on interconnecting two or more telephony or IP elements in order to exchange information. For example, call servers, via gateway controllers, instruct media gateways on how to set up, handle, and terminate media flows, such as Internet connections or telephone calls.
In general, media gateways are assigned to and served by a designated gateway controller. Similarly, gateway controllers are assigned to and served by designated call servers. Typically, the media gateways, gateway controllers and call servers reside on a packet-switched network and must be manually provisioned to facilitate the various assignments. As the number of these devices increases, the difficulty provisioning and managing the assignments grows exponentially. Any time a gateway controller or call server fails, reassignment and provisioning of the affected devices are necessary. Further, as networks expand and evolve, restructuring is often necessary to provide load balancing, ensure sufficient capacity, and the like. Unfortunately, when the number of media gateways increases into the thousands, manual provisioning not only becomes cumbersome, but often results in less than optimal performance.
Accordingly, there is a need for a more efficient and flexible architecture facilitating dynamic assignment and provisioning of media gateways, gateway controllers, and call servers.